Energy insight data from ElectraLink shows that the number of smart meters installed in the UK has grown by 15% between March 2024 and March 2025.

The total number of installed smart meters is approximately 30 million, covering around two-thirds of UK households.

So far this year, there’s been a total of 600,000 smart meters installed, including 25,000 in East England and 23,000 in the East Midlands.

While goals such as achieving 100% renewable electricity by 2030 remain plausible, close-to-universal smart meter rollout by the same time period is up in the air. However, there have been calls for more action from government to encourage the acceleration of this rollout.

Growth Of SMETS2 Smart Meters

Smart meters exist in two categories; SMETS1 and SMETS2 smart meters. The former launched in 2013, however, many homes now use the second generation of smart meters.

While SMETS1 smart meters rely on a mobile network to transfer data, the second generation meters employ the highly secure DCC network instead.

According to GOV.UK, there was close to a 50/50 split between each option with 15.1 million SMETS1 smart meters and 14.8 million SMETS2 smart meters as of 2023, though SMETS2 smart meters is now becoming the predominant option. At the time, there was also 1.3 million advanced meters. However, it should be noted that millions of households use conventional meters.

As second generation smart meters are installed in more households nationwide, they offer advantages such as the capacity to track key details like energy consumption, billing that’s more accurate, and the ability to change suppliers more easily.

Smart meters in general feature in-home displays and with access to more information, it makes it easier to make informed adjustments to your energy use to potentially lower your energy bills.

The Future Of Smart Meters

Per Ofgem, approximately 65% of UK households have smart meters with this figure being 61% for businesses.

Due to a relatively slow rollout of smart meters so far this year, targets for 2026 are unlikely to be met, however, an additional million or so smart meters could be rolled out by the end of the year at the current rate.

Along with increasing smart meter adoption in general, the UK aims to see a growth in SMETS2 smart meters as discussed above.

With conventional RTS meters (used by approximately 300,000 customers in the UK) going offline in late June, there have been prompt efforts to replace these with smart meters.

It is currently unlikely all households with RTS meters will have a smart meter replacement installed by June 30th, however, this does not mean customers will lose electricity but it does complicate the matter and risk additional expenses and others disruptions. The main challenge is logistical as many households with RTS meters are mostly found in rural locations.

While smart meters continue to increase, there is likely a need for stronger efforts from government, local authorities and the private sector to accelerate smart meter rollout so that it can get to higher coverage threshold in the 80% or more range in the years ahead.